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“Yes? Magic?”
He said in a small voice.
“Yes. It was faint, but I felt mana for a moment.”
I was genuinely impressed.
“Your Grace, you can detect even this tiny amount of mana?”
“More importantly, you saw blood—are you alright?”
“Yes. It was just a little, so I guess it’s fine. Or maybe it’s because the situation is so absurd.”
I sneered. I didn’t know the details, but it was clear this situation was hitting me with enormous stress. Kaiden looked at me like that, then straightened my posture.
“Marion, listen carefully. From now on…”
“What is the meaning of this!”
Before Kaiden could finish, the Emperor shouted in fury.
“A scratch on the Crown Prince’s face! Execute that man at once and detain Marion! Immediately!”
The Emperor was enraged that his own child’s face had been wounded. The imperial knights grabbed both arms of the one-armed knight and dragged him away.
“Aaaagh! This is unfair! It wasn’t me! Marion ordered everything!”
He kept trying to make me miserable until the very end as he disappeared outside the door.
The hall was in chaos. Physicians and knights were already guarding the area near the Crown Prince. They were examining the wound and intending to protect him from me.
Several knights approached me hesitantly. It seemed they had to arrest me, a Sword Master, but felt burdened and couldn’t lay a hand on me. Or perhaps they were afraid.
“Archmage. What is the meaning of this.”
Kaiden stepped forward as if blocking the way in front of me. He glared straight at the Archmage standing below the dais and growled.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
When the Archmage feigned ignorance, Kaiden ground his teeth.
So the culprit is the Archmage. It seems he used magic to shoot the button from my sleeve toward the Crown Prince.
But explaining this to others was ambiguous. Even I hadn’t detected the minute mana—only Kaiden had noticed it—so who would believe me if I explained?
It was infuriating. Did it make sense to stage this entire farce just to get rid of me?
“What are you all doing! I said detain Marion! Grand Duke, do not think of shielding her!”
“Your Majesty, you are being unreasonable!”
Kaiden could no longer hold back and shouted. The menacing aura made the surrounding nobles let out frightened noises.
“Isn’t this going to turn into something big?”
“If the Grand Duke and the good-for-nothing resort to force, it will definitely be a big problem.”
“Th-that…! Shouldn’t we run?”
“B-but the Archmage is here, so it should be fine, right?”
I let out a deep sigh.
I understood the anxiety of the powerless. When I was a child living in the slums, there were many days I trembled in fear because I had no strength.
Of course the situations were very different, but the gap in power between a Sword Master and an ordinary person was probably greater than between an adult and a child, so there was nothing to do but understand.
I grabbed Kaiden’s arm.
“Your Grace. It’s alright. I’ll go in and come back.”
“Marion!”
Kaiden turned to look at me. I quickly whispered in a voice only he could hear.
“There are many ordinary people nearby. Please bear with it for now. I’ll be cleared of charges anyway. You know that. In the end, they’re doing this to interfere with our marriage.”
“…….”
Kaiden looked at me with a regretful face, then tightly closed his eyes. His jaw muscles bulged as he clenched his teeth.
I forced a smile.
“I’ll be back.”
“…I’m sorry. I’ll come get you soon.”
“Yes. I’ll be waiting.”
He stepped aside from blocking the front. I walked toward the knights on my own feet. The moment I passed by the Crown Prince’s group, he whispered to me.
“Marion. Beg me.”
I ignored him and headed to the prison.
* * *
[It’s more comfortable than I expected?]
Blade spun around looking at every corner of the prison. I flopped down on the bed and explained.
“This is a prison only for nobles. Pretty much everything is here.”
[Hooh. Aside from being underground, it’s not bad. Bed, sofa, table. They even prepared fruit in case you get hungry. I was worried, but this is a relief.]
“Well, even with the bars, there’s no real sense of danger.”
[The bars are meaningless to you. You could just break them and leave. You’re just staying locked up voluntarily.]
At Blade’s words, I chuckled and lay back. The bed was soft, and a chandelier hung from the ceiling. A chandelier in an underground prison—still hilarious.
I never thought I’d end up here again.
Was I thirteen back then? At the time, I had just entered the imperial palace and was waiting right before being knighted by the Emperor.
Many people came to gawk at me as if I were a monkey in a zoo, calling it the birth of the youngest Sword Master.
As someone who had lived as a commoner-born mercenary, that kind of attention wasn’t particularly welcome.
Among them, the noble children my age were especially interested. They casually said things that were cruel even now when I recall them.
“Ugh, doesn’t it smell like something?”
“It smells like filth! Kikik!”
At first I just ignored them. They weren’t people I’d see often anyway, and if I mishandled it, I’d be the one in trouble. If I made the nobles hate me, I could be beaten or even killed.
I endured and endured, until one remark made me explode.
“I heard the Baltstein Grand Ducal House decided to take her in?”
“Ugh, the Grand Ducal House is doomed. Having to take in that kind of filth.”
Looking back now, it wasn’t a big deal. But at the time I felt so wronged that I couldn’t hold it in anymore and half-destroyed one wall of the imperial palace.
The children ran away crying and sniffling, and the adults came running. Everyone pointed at me and yelled. They seemed scared. I also saw Kaiden rushing over in a panic.
I was imprisoned for threatening the children and destroying a palace wall.
“Reflect deeply!”
“…?”
A stern-voiced jailer threw me in here. The sound of the iron bars closing rang loudly. But I was bewildered. They definitely said prison, yet the room was far too nice.
Feeling uneasy instead, I sat hugging my knees near the bars. I waited for someone to come and take me to a proper prison.
Soon Kaiden came.
“Why are you sitting on the cold floor?”
“I think they showed me the wrong prison.”
“What do you mean?”
“This place is too nice. There’s even food.”
Kaiden’s expression back then was worth seeing. Slightly widened eyes, parted lips, a face that didn’t know what to say next. Kaiden at that time was only eighteen.
“…I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“You were forced to take me in. I’m sorry. For causing trouble too….”
I kept apologizing to him.
“But if we go north, I’ll really listen well. I’ll be a good kid.”
“…….”
Kaiden said nothing and just looked down at me. My throat burned under that gaze. I didn’t want to lose Kaiden. I had to prove my usefulness.
“I’m… I’m good with swords. I kill monsters well, so I’ll be helpful in the north. And, um, I’m good at cleaning and laundry too.”
After a pause, Kaiden asked.
“Cooking?”
“C-cooking, I can’t….”
I stammered in panic. Seeing food itself had been rare. But then Kaiden said something unexpected.
“I’ll teach you.”
“…You’re a noble, and you cook?”
“I’m not great, but I know one or two things.”
“Wow. So nobles cook too.”
Kaiden chuckled and reached through the bars. His large hand awkwardly stroked my head.
“You held it together well without crying.”
“Why would I cry?”
“Your face looked like you were about to cry when they said prison.”
“Ah! It’s fine. Crying just makes your throat dry, and if the prison is like this, I could come a hundred, a thousand times.”
“…That would be troublesome. And if your throat is dry, just drink water.”
“There might not be clean water.”
“I’ll give you clean water anytime.”
“Who?”
“Me.”
“Thank you.”
“Yes. So if you want to cry, you can cry anytime.”
[Marion, get up! Someone’s coming!]
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
